Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Ajitsuke tamago / Japanese marinated soft-boiled eggs

As promised , here's the recipe for the marinated soft-boiled eggs . Chashu will be posted sometime next month , hopefully ?! Hey , it's Lent so , no meat until Sunday . Yeah right , this from somebody who is a lapsed Catholic .

With so many recipes for making soft-boiled eggs online , stay away for those overly complicated instructions , use a thermometer to boil water , steam the eggs instead of boiling , only use fresh eggs ( okay , I used fresh eggs ) use a thumbtack to poke a hole in the egg , yada yada ugh ! Making soft-boiled eggs don't have to be stressful !

I admit that I did poke a hole in the egg but after nearly a minute of doing it and the pin couldn't get through the egg shell so , I nixed the idea . The reason for that according to some , so that you can easily peel off the egg shell . Well , I used fresh eggs and the shells peeled off easily , no snag whatsoever !

I did get some pointers at Cookpad , check out that Japanese food recipe community . Loads of amazing and easy to cook Japanese dish !

The marinade is the same ingredients as the one that I used last time for both chashu and the eggs . I scaled down the recipe this time .

Fancy only a soft-boiled egg ? Don't use the marinade - no fuss , no muss ^___^

Makes 1 1/2 cups

150 ml water50 ml light soy sauce75 ml cooking sake50 ml mirin 35 grams Chinese slab sugar ( or rock sugar / light brown sugar / granulated sugar )2 cloves garlic , skin on 1 shallot , skin on and cut in half1 x 1/2-inch ginger , skin on 1 stalk spring onion , cut into sections* Put all ingredients in a small saucepan , let boil then simmer over low heat for 5 minutes . Transfer to a bowl and let cool completely . * Boil water , take out 5 eggs ( or depending how many you want to cook ) ) from the fridge , wash them ( if prefer ) . Put eggs in a large slotted ladle and gently drop them to the boiling water , turn down heat to medium and cook , for 6 1/2 minutes , ( don't cover the pot ) stirring from time to time . * Meanwhile prepare a bowl with cold water ( use tap water if it is cold or use an ice water bath ) . Transfer eggs to the cold water and let stand for 3 minutes . Pour the marinade into a plastic food bag , use a deep bowl to hold it . Crack egg then gently peel off the shell and into the marinade , repeat with the rest of the eggs . Tie plastic , remove as much air as you can so that all eggs are evenly submerged into the marinade ) . Let them sit for several hours or overnight .

Hi Anne,Well, this recipe was certainly worth waiting for, how intriguing. I would never think to marinate soft boiled eggs in such deliciousness. Actually, I would never think to marinate soft boiled eggs at all!!! And that thumb tack trick, lol...that's new to me also. Of course, I haven't made soft boiled eggs in a long time but the next time I do, I will remember this recipe. It sounds amazing! Thank you so much for sharing, Anne...

oh this sounds so good I've never marinaded eggs before. I've had those Chinese tea eggs but these just sound delicious. I've had them in Japanese restaurants but I had never really thought about how they were made lol

Anne, I came to check your reply to my comment but my comment is not here. Anyway, this looks terrific. Today I was reading baking section in Globe life & arts paper, where they have baked a muffin with soft boiled egg inside. Now I am so curious to check your recipe and that muffin recipe. Have a good weekend!

I am republishing my comment. Tell me if the first two are there or not.